A wellknown marine scientist and environmentalist has warned that Phuket is heading toward environmental crisis due to the continuing pouring of untreated water into the sea.
Mr Thorn Thamrongnaswasdi, vice dean of the fishery faculty of Kasetsart University said over the weekend that Phuket is producing as much as 180,000 cubic metres of waste water each day whereas the existing four waste water plants have a combined capacity to treat just 55,000 cubic metres of waste water.
As such, he said the untreated polluted water is untreated waste water – up to 125,000 cubic metres – is directly dumped into the sea. And this does not take into account the waste water discharged into the sea from tens of thousands of coin-operated washing machines operational along the coast of Phuket, he added.
On top of that, Thorn also pointed out that the famous resort town generates 4-5 percent more waste water each year.
He called on authorities concerned to check all the business enterprises to find out how much they are generating waste water each day and also to check the four existing treatment plants whether they are functioning full time or not.
